The European Union’s limited search and rescue resources contributed to the migrant tragedy that claimed more than 300 lives a few days ago, Amnesty International said today after a visit to Lampedusa.
It said that on that fateful day, four rubber dinghies carrying hundreds of migrants sent out an SOS in stormy weather in the southern Mediterranean.
But when the distress call was received on February 8, the main vessel used in the pan-EU border management operation Triton was docked hundreds of kilometres away in Malta for maintenance.
The large military vessels used in Italy’s now-defunct Mare Nostrum search and rescue operation were also out of use and docked even farther away in Sicily.
An Amnesty International research team carried out interviews, in Rome and Lampedusa, with survivors, members of the Italian coastguard and local authorities.
“Italian coast guard officials responded admirably and with exceptional personal courage to the SOS call, putting in long hours amid incredibly treacherous conditions at sea. It’s impossible to know how many lives they could have saved with better resources, but the death toll would likely be lower,” Amnesty International’s Italy campaigner Matteo de Bellis said.
“Unless the void of Italy’s now defunct lifesaving Mare Nostrum search and rescue operation is filled, refugees and migrants will continue to die in great numbers at sea,” he said.
The 400 survivors, most of them young men from West Africa, were attempting to travel across the Mediterranean in four boats from Libya when they ran into trouble.
People smugglers had kept them near Tripoli after charging them the equivalent of around €650. On February 7, the armed people smugglers brought the migrants to the Libyan port town of Garabouli, 40 km west of Tripoli, and made them board four inflatable dinghies.
Early the next day, as the boats drifted in the Mediterranean Sea north of Libya, it was clear that they were in serious danger.
Italian coast guard officials told Amnesty they received a satellite phone call for help early on February 8 in the afternoon. It was mostly unintelligible but the officials could make out the words “dangerous, dangerous” in English.
Coast guard officials stressed that, under the circumstances, the migrants were sailing to their almost certain death. The weather forecast in was bad for the entire week and the boats were powered by small outboard motors. The people smugglers had not provided enough petrol for the trip.
According to survivor accounts, more than 300 people perished. The migrants, many of whom were scantily clothed, were exposed to extreme weather conditions for up to two days, including in near-freezing temperatures, rain and hail as their boats were at times tossed about on waves of up to eight metres.
Italian coast guard responders managed to rescue 105 people from one dinghy but 29 of those rescued died of hypothermia and other causes. Two merchant vessels in the area rescued nine remaining survivors from two other boats. Survivors confirmed that there were four dinghies in total, which were numbered 1 to 4. One boat is still missing.
Departures of refugees and migrants surged this weekend, and will continue to do so as Libya descends deeper into violence. The Italian coast guard confirmed that Italian authorities and merchant vessels rescued more than 2,800 people in at least 18 boats between last Friday and Sunday. A total of 2,225 people were rescued from a dozen boats on Sunday alone.